So I swallowed my objections and nodded. "Alright."
"You sure you got this? I could put one of the older guys on it."
"No, I got it."
I got it for multiple reasons. One, Reign asked it of me. If the prez picked you out for something, you damn sure didn't throw that offer back in his face. Two, I admit that I was curious about Maze. Three, I knew the other guys would do shit that would not only be un-called for, but borderline shitty to her to get her to quit. That would also involve getting the other probates to purposely give her shit, exclude her, make her feel unsafe and unwelcome. And while she was definitely unwelcome if Reign's behavior was anything to go by, she wasn't unsafe. It was a really shitty thing for a man to cross that line with a woman just to make her squirm, regardless of whether they were going to follow through or not.
So I wanted to oversee things to make sure they didn't get out of hand.
As a whole, we weren't bad men. But I knew that it was very easy for decent men to turn downright evil when given permission to do so.
They wouldn't get that chance.
I was on it.
Case closed.
"You already keep an eye on the probates," Reign reasoned with a shrug.
He wasn't wrong. While most of the patched members had rooms at the compound, very few of them took advantage of them. Many of the men had old ladies and kids and houses and shit to take care of. Cash had Lo in a townhouse. Wolf had Janie in his place in the woods. Even Reign had Summer and their daughter, Ferryn, to look after at his place. Not many of the men were at the compound twenty-four seven. I, however, wasn't exactly the settling down type. And I saw no reason to take on a mortgage when I had a comfortable place at the compound.
So I lived there.
I also worked there, rebuilding my cars in the field in the back.
As such, I was around the most and, therefore, kept a close watch on the probates.
"Not a problem, Reign. I'm on it," I said and was rewarded with a whack on the shoulder before I opened the door and made my way back to the small crowd out front.
Why there was a knot in my stomach, well, fuck if I knew. But there was.
"Maze," I called, cutting off whatever Janie was about to say, "you're with me. Let's go."
To her credit, she didn't bristle or ask any questions or even waste any time saying thank yous or goodbyes to everyone else. She simply nodded tightly, moved through the group, and fell into step, two respectful feet behind me as I led her around the back of the compound where I knew the rest of the probates would be hanging around and talking shit about the chick who thought she had a chance to be in The Henchmen MC.
We had four probates, well, with Maze, five. There was Moose and Fox, the brothers. Moose was as simple as sawdust and as mean as a grizzly. Fox was slightly less stupid, and maybe only half as mean, but he was uninteresting in every possible way. Both were dark-haired with that ridiculous pretty-boy thing going on, but also strong, capable, with impressive juvenile rap sheets and clean adult ones. Duke had long blond hair he generally kept in a bun at the crown of his head. He was on the rough-side looks-wise, tall and solid with deep blue eyes. And, finally, Renny was a fucking redhead. No lie. He was young, around twenty with a thin, scrappy body that he had half-covered with tattoos already. His hair was of the copper-red variety, longish on top, with bright blue eyes. By some miracle, he managed to be freckle-less.
Personally, I favored Duke and Renny as potential members.
But that decision had literally nothing to do with my opinion.
That was all up to Reign with maybe a little input from Cash and Wolf.
"You can't be fucking serious," Moose said as we moved to stand where they were all hanging out around the picnic tables.
"You can't be fucking questioning Reign's decision," I said back with a pointed brow raise that had him shutting up.
"Moose, Fox, Duke, Renny, this is Maze. She's the newest probate."
Moose rolled his eyes; Fox raked his eyes up and down Maze; Duke's brows drew together but he shrugged. Lastly, Renny leaned back on the picnic tabletop, arms behind him, and gave Maze a genuine smile. "Smash that fucking patriarchy," he said, catching her off guard because she made a strange snorting noise before she laughed a little nervously.
"She's not going to be bunking with us is she?" Moose asked.
"That's not going to be a problem is it?" I countered.